New North Klang Valley Expressway

PETALING JAYA: A new expressway is in the pipeline to link the various development projects in the fast-growing northern part of the Klang Valley, located west of Kuala Lumpur.

Sources said the Government had given the green light for Sistem Penyuraian Trafik KL Barat Sdn Bhd (or Sprint) to proceed with the detailed design.

Construction could begin at the end of this year and be completed in two to three years, said the sources.

The 23km expressway, to be called the New North Klang Valley Expressway, will be an extension of Sprint’s Penchala Link, which opens today.

This would allow users to get to Jalan Duta directly and then proceed to the Kuala Lumpur city centre, added the sources.

The new expressway is expected to begin at the Damansara Puchong Expressway (LDP) at the junction with Persiaran Surian in Mutiara Damansara and end at the Shah Alam-Puncak Alam road near Bandar Puncak Alam.

“The expressway will be elevated above Persiaran Surian from the LDP to the bridge over the New Klang Valley Expressway (NKVE). It will then be on ground level for the rest of the way,” the sources said.

While most of its alignments would be new, parts of the expressway would go over existing roads such as Persiaran Surian and the Sungai Buloh-Batu Tiga road between the Rubber Research Institute and Kampung Melayu Subang, they said.

These stretches would be upgraded to expressway standard, with six lanes and proper interchanges.

The expressway would have six interchanges and one of them would be with the Guthrie Corridor Expressway which is currently under construction.

It would also provide a faster and more direct way to Bandar Puncak Alam and adjacent developments, including the proposed new Universiti Teknologi Mara campus.

“By 2010, the whole area is expected to have over 700,000 households,” the sources said.

Most residents in the area currently use the Sungai Buloh-Subang road to access either the North-South Expressway at Sungai Buloh or the NKVE at Bukit Jelutong or Subang to go to Kuala Lumpur, they said.

They said it would be difficult for the NKVE to handle the increase in traffic volume when the area was fully developed and could suffer from congestion, especially between Subang and Damansara.

“There is actually a shortage of direct routes to Kuala Lumpur for people in the area. The Federal Highway and NKVE are too far to the south, while the Guthrie Corridor Expressway runs in a north-south direction and does not bring people directly to Kuala Lumpur,” they said.

They added that it was important for the expressway to be planned and built now because land was still available.

“If an expressway is constructed after the whole area is built up, it will be difficult to find enough space for such a road,” they said.